Abstract

The charges laid against post-Keynesian economics range from finding it difficult to identify except by its rejection of neoclassical economics, unscientific, old-fashioned, 'not theory,' even 'not economics.' These criticisms reveal strong assumptions about what 'proper' economic theory is and how it is to proceed as well as reflecting an outmoded view of science. The basic principles of post-Keynesian economics are elaborated, through which the methodological nature of the criticisms become apparent. The final section outlines several distinctive and important contributions of post-Keynesian economics.